


make you feel (my love)

by seekrest



Series: IronDad Bingo [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Biological Dad AU, Not Canon Compliant, Peter Parker is a Good Dad, Protective Michelle Jones, Protective Peter Parker, With a twist!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23040739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekrest/pseuds/seekrest
Summary: Peter has an engineering degree from MIT, a Master’s from Columbia, and yet he can’t quite put two and two together at the package in front of him.It’s not until he brings the papers up, when a small photograph falls out from them that Peter’s mind starts snapping the pieces together, connecting the dots even as his stomach drops.A small, dark-haired child smiles up at him, brown eyes gleaming. Peter could only guess the kid’s two or three, Peter has had little experience with kids he has no idea - but it’s when he turns the photograph over that the final puzzle piece snaps into place.His name is Anthony, but I call him Tony.He’s yours.- F__IronDad Bingo: Biological Dad AU
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: IronDad Bingo [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652680
Comments: 14
Kudos: 168





	make you feel (my love)

“Mr. Parker?” 

Peter glanced up, looking at the man in a tracksuit up and down.

“Can I… help you?” The guy shrugged, handing him a large brown envelope with a clipboard on top. Peter looked down at it and frowned. 

“What’s this?”

“Beats me, here just sign it so I can go. I got a lot more deliveries to get to.” Peter made a face, grabbing a pen from his desk as he scribbled his signature on the clipboard. Guy double-checked it, nodded then went to leave. 

“Hey, you didn’t say who it was from?” 

“Read the label, man. Have a good day!” 

Peter watches as the man leaves, shaking his head as his co-worker looks back to him.

“You got served or something, Parker?”

Peter shrugs, looking back down to the large envelope in his hands. 

NELSON AND MURDOCK, ATTORNEYS AT LAW 

The name doesn’t ring a bell for Peter, ripping the envelope open and letting the contents fall into his lap.

His stomach drops, eyes widening as his co-worker leans over.

“Oh shit.” 

Mark’s voice is distant, Peter staring at the papers in front of him.

COMPLAINT FOR CUSTODY 

Peter’s feels as if he can’t breathe, Mark’s comment rattling around in his head. 

_Complaint for custody? Custody of what? From who?_

Peter has an engineering degree from MIT, a Master’s from Columbia, and yet he can’t quite put two and two together at the package in front of him. 

It’s not until he brings the papers up, when a small photograph falls out from them that Peter’s mind starts snapping the pieces together, connecting the dots even as his stomach drops.

A small, dark-haired child smiles up at him, brown eyes gleaming. Peter could only guess the kid’s two or three, Peter has had little experience with kids he has no idea - but it’s when he turns the photograph over that the final puzzle piece snaps into place. 

_His name is Anthony, but I call him Tony._

_He’s yours._

_\- F_

* * *

“Peter, did you stop by the store?” Peter’s head snaps up, sitting at the small dinner table in the tiny apartment that he and Michelle shared. 

“Um, sorry, MJ, I didn’t, I got---” She waves her hand, kissing him on the cheek as she rushes toward the kitchen anyway, dropping her purse on the counter. 

“It’s fine, I figured as much. You want me to call Chang’s or should I?”

Peter doesn’t answer, mind still whirring as Michelle stops, turns back to him.

“Peter?”

“Hmm?” He blinks a few times, Michelle’s eyes narrowing.

“You have that same look on your face that you get when you forgot to pay rent even after I reminded you three times.” Peter bites his lip, Michelle’s look turning from one of annoyance to concern.

“Pete? What’s wrong?” She sits down in the chair across from him, reaches her hand across the table. 

Peter squeezes her hand, building the courage to tell her something that could - that _would_ \- change everything for them.

 _If she even wants to be a them after this._

Peter takes the photo out of his pocket with his free hand, sliding it over to Michelle. She lets go of his hand, looking at it as she tilts her head.

“Cute kid. Whose is it?” 

Peter just stares, Michelle’s eyes widening as she turns the photograph over.

She looks back to Peter, an unreadable expression on her face. 

Peter waits, as Michelle takes a deep breath and sighs.

“Well shit.” 

* * *

She takes it a lot better than he had, all things considered.

Michelle was a problem-solver, a solution-seeker. If there was an issue with a landlord, her manager, a cashier - Michelle was the first one to step in, solve the problem before it became a huge issue. 

It’s part of the reason why she was such a damn good reporter, and one of the many reasons that Peter loved her. 

He’s still thrown by how easily she accepted this, as if this photograph and custody papers from his ex didn’t irrevocably change everything about their world - about their lives and relationship. 

It’d been a fling, a summer romance, Peter only meeting Felicia as he tried to drown his sorrows in a bar. 

Felicia was fiery and wild, in a way that was similar to and yet different from Michelle. Whereas Michelle’s passion was focused, determined on her goals and ambitions - Felicia had taken life as it came, throwing herself at everyone and everything - feeling everything so vividly that it made Peter’s head spin. 

It was all passion, fire and lust in a way that Peter had never felt before - yet it was never meant to last. The heat of the summer gave way to fall, Peter’s desire for stability clashing with Felicia’s desire to keep things loose. They’d broken up a few weeks before Peter started his final year at Columbia - a month later, he’d patched things up with Michelle.

Peter had expected Michelle to be angry, to be hurt - _something_ more than stoic acceptance. She’d double-checked the papers he’d been served, questioned aloud about a paternity test but other than that - Michelle had been nothing if not immediately supportive. 

It baffled Peter, as he pushed the shopping cart through the baby store - watching in amazement as Michelle plucked another blanket off the shelves. 

“I don’t think kids need this many blankets.”

“If he’s your son, then trust me,” Michelle locked eyes with him, setting the fourth blanket into the car, “He’ll be freezing all the time.” 

They hold each other’s gaze for a second before Michelle turns, busying herself with the list on her phone.

“MJ.”  
  
“Come on, Pete. We should head to the toy aisle before we leave. I don’t know what toddlers like but I figure he’s your kid so he’ll enjoy his first LEGO set or something.”

“MJ.”

“Shit, can toddlers even play with LEGOs? How old is he again?”

“Michelle.” She stops, sighing as Peter grabs her hand. 

“Are you okay?” 

“What do you think, Peter? Are _you_ okay?”

Peter shakes his head, dumbfounded. “I, I don’t know what I am to be honest.” 

She bites her lip, looking into Peter’s eyes.

“You think he’s yours?”

“I… I don’t know, MJ. It’s… possible?” Peter shakes his head, eyes dancing around until it settles on some kind of nightlight. 

“How possible?”

“Felicia and I weren’t always careful, she was a lot more….” Peter trails off, Michelle seemingly understanding.

“Spontaneous?” Peter presses his lips together, inwardly kicking himself. He hated the idea of making Michelle feel she was second best, like she wasn’t as exciting or as passionate or as incredible as the blonde-haired bombshell that had just upended Peter’s entire world. 

He liked being with Felicia, at the time. She had been so different from Michelle, similar to her in the barest of ways - but it’d been just what he needed to forget how heartbroken he was, to throw himself into bed with someone who made him feel alive. 

And now, nearly three years after - right when he and Michelle had started to come into a good rhythm, right after Peter had already bought a ring - when his biggest concern had been how to figure out the most romantic and yet less cheesy way he could ask for her to spend the rest of her life with him - their entire world shifted once again. 

Felicia could be lying, he knew the smart thing to do would be to do a paternity test. But for all of Felicia’s coy smiles and snarky quips and sarcastic remarks - he can sense it in his gut that she wouldn’t do something like this. 

Their breakup had been amicable enough, Felicia being the one to break it off before Peter ever could. Peter hadn’t given much thought to Felicia afterwards, too blissfully grateful that he’d been able to make things work with Michelle. 

Felicia was a lot of things - she hadn’t told him about Anthony, had kept the truth hidden from for years - but this, giving him the biggest fuck you on the planet, only letting him know that he was a father after her death, seemed a bit too cruel - too out there, even for her. 

Michelle brings him out of his thoughts, gripping his hand tighter. 

“We’ll figure this out, Pete.” 

Peter searched for her eyes, looking for a hint of betrayal, or hurt, or anger - but all Peter saw mirrored back was a deep, unrelenting love - something Peter didn’t feel that he deserved. 

“Together.” 

Michelle smiled, the pressure of her hands making Peter feel grounded. 

“Together.” 

* * *

“Papa!” 

“I’m coming, Tony, hold on.” Tony’s hands reach for him anyway, Michelle laughing and rolling her eyes. 

“He’s your kid, alright. Never listens to a damn thing anyone says.” Peter gives her a look, picking Tony up with ease as he wraps his tiny arms around Peter’s neck. 

“Mama said a bad word.” 

Peter opens his mouth in shock, Michelle grinning.

“Yes she did,” Peter bringing Tony around the dining room table. “What do you think we should do about that?”

Tony thinks a minute, Peter’s heart swelling at the way his little hands went to his face, a mimic of something Peter himself had done countless times before when he was young.

“Kiss attack!” Tony yells, Peter smiling as Michelle takes a step back, shaking her head.

“Oh no you don’t. Peter, Tony still has jelly over his hands.” Peter grins, taking a step forward as Tony lurches forward. 

“Mama, kiss attack!” Michelle’s face melts just a little, Peter’s heart skipping a beat at the sight as he takes another step forward. 

“Peter.” 

“MJ.”

She smiles, rolls her eyes before meeting them halfway, crashing her lips onto Peter’s, feeling the smile on her lips as Tony’s little arms wrap around them both. 

He laughs as Tony alternates between kissing Peter and Michelle’s cheek, the slobber and jelly getting over the both of them. 

As Michelle just laughs, taking Tony out of Peter’s arms, Peter just smiles. 

He hadn’t expected Michelle to take this as well as she did but now, almost a year later - he couldn’t imagine his life any different.

* * *

“Dad?”

“Hmm?” Peter looked up from his desk, shoulders tensing at the look on Tony’s face.

He could tell there was a question brewing behind those brown eyes, a serious one from the way Tony wrung his hands together. 

Tony was so much like Peter, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders when he had no business doing so.

When they’d first gotten the paternity test - an afterthought, after Peter had laid his eyes on Tony, knowing in his gut that the boy in front of him was his son - Peter had been so concerned about Tony inheriting his powers, wondered if the bite that had changed him somehow ran through his son’s veins. 

It hadn’t, as far as they could tell - Peter breathing a sigh of relief. He never wanted Tony to feel the burden of responsibility, the need and desire to solve the world’s problems with everything he had. 

Peter should've guessed that his son - spider-powers or not - wouldn’t be able to escape that feeling. 

Tony was smart, smarter than he had any right to be according to Michelle. He’d tinker with his toys, breaking them apart and putting them back together - only better and in ways that made even Peter blink in surprise. 

It was something he’d whisper to Michelle, conversations before bed about how they could nurture Tony, encourage him as best they could with their limited salary and means. 

But that did nothing for Tony’s raving curiosity, his inner desire to push himself further and harder - in ways Peter wished he could just kiss away, tickle and joke like he did those first few years he’d come into their lives. 

It’s that kind of look that Tony has on his face now, Peter sitting back in his chair - looking over his son in concern.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?”

Tony bites his lip, wrangles his hands together before sighing, coming over to where Peter was. 

“I’m… I was just thinking….”

“Careful, kid. Thinking is what gets you grounded.” Tony laughs half-heartedly, glancing away, Peter’s eyebrows furrowing.

“Anthony.” Tony brings his head up, biting his lip again.

“I’m… I was just wondering, about my mom.”

Peter freezes, wishing that Michelle hadn’t stepped out to the gym. She was so much better at this than he was, a gentleness that Peter had only seen glimpses of when they were young. But Michelle wasn’t due to come back for at least an hour, and Tony was here - brown eyes big and searching Peter’s.

Peter lets out a low exhale, motioning for Tony to come closer to him. Tony does, leaning against the desk. He was seven now, much too old for cuddling in his own words but Peter knew that this kind of conversation would need more than words to ease any wounds. 

“What’d you want to know, kid?”

Tony looks back down to his hands, Peter’s heart breaking. 

He thought he and Michelle had done all that they could to make Tony feel loved, safe and protected. To let Tony know that his mother loved him, that Michelle could never replace her - never wanted to. 

But Peter knew as best as anyone what it was like to live in the shadow of your parents being gone, to wrestle with parental figures who you didn’t come from - yet you knew they loved you completely. 

It was a difficult thing to wrestle with, one that Peter had done when he wasn’t much older than Tony was. Of course Tony’s mind would go towards that same line of thinking, on a random Saturday when Michelle was out. 

_You’re really too much like me, kid._

“I just, I mean, did she-- why didn’t she tell you about me? You know, before…” Tony trails off, Peter’s shoulders slumping. 

“Oh kid.” He can see the tears welling up in Tony’s eyes, hands outstretched to him as Tony rushes forward, burrowing his head into Peter’s chest. 

“I don’t understand. I just don’t understand why she didn’t tell you.” Peter closes his eyes, wrapping his arms around his son.

How could he try and explain the unexplainable mystery that was Felicia? How could Peter try and explain that whirlwind of their romance, the foolish mistake that had led to the greatest thing in Peter’s life?

How could he try and explain to Tony that Peter still wrestled with those same questions, how years and years later he was still filled with a mix of frustrated and hurt and understanding for why Felicia had kept the biggest secret of his life from him - only telling him after she’d passed on from a quick and brutal bout of cancer. 

Sometimes Peter wondered had she hadn’t died, if Felicia would’ve ever told him the truth at all.

But Peter couldn’t share that with Tony - not now, maybe not ever.

All he really could do is be thankful - that no matter the circumstances, no matter the challenges and problems that they still faced - that he had Tony. 

“I don’t know, Tony. I don’t know.” He whispers to son, comforting him as best that he could.

Peter didn’t have all the answers, knew enough about parenting that he never would. All Peter could do - could hope, pray, believe - is that Tony knew that he was loved.

That it didn’t matter to Peter that he hadn’t been there for his birth, that he didn’t know his son had even existed until he was almost three years old. 

Holding Tony tight in his arms, feeling Tony lean into the embrace, Peter thought to himself that he could only try and spend the rest of his life showing Tony how much he loved him, would protect him, would hold him for as long as he could. 

Peter hadn’t been there for the beginning.

But Peter made a promise to himself that he’d be there for Tony until the end. 

**Author's Note:**

> If this looks familiar, it's cause it is! Reposting old IronDad bingos for anyone who wants to bookmark separately.
> 
> AND if you're interested in reading more, I've actually expanded this story into a full-fledged multi-chap called [ Ghosts That We Knew](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20865743/chapters/49597133) :)


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